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Bretz Upsets White in Olympic Qualifier

Greg Bretz threw down a double Michalchuk and outgunned Shaun White in Saturday’s halfpipe snowboarding final, taking the top spot in the first Olympic qualifier Saturday at the Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships. (Getty Images/Doug Pensinger)

BRECKENRIDGE, CO. (Dec. 14) – U.S. Snowboarding’s Greg Bretz (Mammoth Lakes, CA) outgunned Olympic gold medalist Shaun White (Carlsbad, CA) in the halfpipe snowboarding final, taking the top spot in the first Olympic qualifier Saturday at the Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships. White and U.S. Snowboarding rookie Taylor Gold (Steamboat Springs, CO) sealed the U.S. sweep in second and third during the first of the five Olympic qualifiers. Next, the halfpipe men travel down the road to Copper Mountain for the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix Dec. 21-22, the second Olympic qualifier.

White and U.S. Snowboarding rookie Taylor Gold (Steamboat Springs, CO) sealed the U.S. sweep in second and third during the first of the four Olympic qualifiers.

Bretz was the first to beat White in a halfpipe final in almost four years.

Saturday’s final was Gold’s first-ever Dew Tour podium and Olympic qualifier, and it was also the best-ever finish for rookie Ben Ferguson (Bend, OR) in 8th.

White fell during his first run and showed signs of injury during a more timid and imperfect second run.

The U.S. sweep with both veterans and rookies shows the depth of talent the U.S. team has going into the Sochi Olympic Winter Games.

Bretz is in a strong position going into the next four qualification events. The top snowboarding athletes in the Olympic qualification hunt are Bretz, then White, Gold, Louie Vito (Sandy, UT), Danny Davis (Truckee, CA), Ferguson and Benji Farrow (Ludlow, VT).

Selection to the Olympic snowboarding team will be made from athletes who have a top-four finish against the entire field in one of five selection events. Those athletes will be ranked with their best two of five qualifying events using World Cup scoring (1,000 point scale) comparing only USA athletes.

Next, the halfpipe men travel down the road to Copper Mountain for the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix Dec. 21-22, the second Olympic qualifier.

Men’s slopestyle finals will wrap up the first Olympic qualification event Sunday at 3:00 p.m. EST and air live on NBCSN. All competition can be streamed live on www.dewtour.com.

QUOTESGreg BretzI’m so stoked it’s an Olympic qualifier and I was able to come out on top. I just try to ride for myself and stay away from what other people are doing and it ended up working out and I’m super stoked about it.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to hold onto first for two runs, but it was extremely nerve-wracking. Seeing Shaun mess up was very uncharacteristic of him. I’m ecstatic right now.

Taylor GoldI’m frickin’ stoked for myself and for the rookie team overall. I’m stoked that the rookies can represent. I’m really stoked for the entire U.S. team. Everybody killed it today, so definitely stoked to see what happens next.

Nobody is really expecting a whole lot from me, so I can focus on my riding and not on the pressure.

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